A Tale of Four Friends
by yamiishot
Summary: Well this is going to be a Harry Potter fic, but with a twist. No Harry and friends. No Voldy. No war. Nothing from the books bar the teachers. No Mary or Mike Sues. End of. Hope you like. Read and Review Please :D
1. The Letters

-1The sound of laughter rang through the hot summer air, drifting over the still lake. The four girls collapsed in a tangle of limbs, sweat, and grass.

"Oh. My. God." the blonde panted for breath, brushing back her short fringe, knocking loose some grass which had gotten tangled there. "We have to do that again!"

"What, go and roll down that huge, big, grassy hill, squash each other and almost roll into the lake?" asked the ever sensible one. "I'm up for it! This time I'm aiming for the lake!" she leapt to her feet and dashed off, tripping over her own feet.

"Klutz!" one yelled after her jokingly. "Ah yes, cousin Klutz." she giggled, brushing back blue highlighted hair. "Lara wait up!" she yelled, chasing after her cousin.

The two left lying down got to their feet slowly, dusting themselves off, only to be knocked down once more by two rolling eleven year olds tumbling down the hill once more, covered in grass…and

SPLASH!

…ice cold lake water.

Lara leapt out the water like a cat who had been thrown in a bath, squealing madly and shivering. "NATALIE!" she screeched. She spun around in horror as she heard;

"THERES A LAKE MONSTER ON MY LEG!!! IT'S EATING MEEEEE!"

"That's me you loon!"

"Oh…"

"It's actually my hair, Vivi, but still…"

"Your hair is weird."

"I happen to like my red and black hair."

The pointless discussion continued while the two climbed out of the cold lake. That left three standing on the bank…one still missing.

"Cairis!" Lara looked around, frowning. "Where is she?"

"Lake!" Vivi shrieked and ran towards the water, Lara and Natalie hot on her tail.

Without pausing, Vivi dived into the water, and disappeared sight.

After a few tense moments of silence, nothing but the sound of water dripping off the two girls gripping hands, and onto the grass, a voice behind them said. "What cha doing?"

They spun around to see Cairis standing there with her lop sided hair cut, dry as a bone. Or a whistle.

"CAIRIS!!" Lara squealed and glomped her friend delighted to find her safe.

"What about Vivi?!" Natalie turned back to the lake and searched the surface, as if by glaring at it she could reveal her friend..

Just then Vivi surfaced. "I CAN'T FIND HER!" she sobbed, chocking beck tears. She swam to the edge and crawled out.

"Vivi…"

"I can still hear her voice in my head…" she sniffed.

"Vivi, I'm right here."

"I miss her so MUCH!" she howled. "I can still see her standing in the sun!"

"That's because I AM!!"

Vivi blinked. "Oh…OH!" She ran over and glomped the presumably 'drowned' friend.

"I th-think we should go home right about now. We're all wet-"

"I ain't!" Cairis waved from the ground, under Vivi's glomps.

"All but her." Lara gave her a dark look for making them all panic. "I would like very much to get dry."

"Agreed." the other two chimed in.

"Good. See ya'll later then!" Vivi jumped to her feet and dashed off to her house leaving the other three to say their goodbyes and head home.

The next morning, Vivi woke up, and slammed her fist down on the alarm clock at her bedside table and tugged the covers over her head, groaning.

Her mother pushed open the door. "MAIL CALL!" she roared, throwing a letter at her daughter's vague lump before slamming the door shut again.

Vivi gave a half-hearted grouching moan before sitting up, dragging the covers over her tousled hair and picking up the letter.

It was a yellow-ish parchment envelope, with the address written in hand on the front. Frowning, she flipped it over and saw a curious coat of arms; a lion set against red, a snake against green, a raven set against blue and a badger set against yellow, with a flowing banner at the bottom with Latin script, and a rather large 'H' splashed across the middle.

"That's cool." Vivi commented blearily before tossing it to one side and going to get some toast.

Else where that very same morning, Lara was sleeping in when her mother opened the door. The mum snuck up to her daughter's side and shook her gently. "Lara, wake up."

"What are you talking about? I don't have a cake!" she groaned, stirring from her dreams. "Sausages and bread please. And some glue."

Her mother ignored the nonsense, well used to it. "Lara I will burn your books if you don't get up now."

Lara shrieked and rolled off the bed, getting tangled in the covers.

"NOT THE BOOKS!" she screamed from her prison of purple fairy covered…covers "NOT MY BOOKS!"

"The books are safe now get me a cup of tea, and get the mail." she yawned and went off to the living room.

"Morning Wiya!" a childs voice came from the door.

"Morning Kyle." she sighed at the mispronunciation of her name, well used to it by now but it still irritated her. Poor thing had a speech impediment. Rather cute though. "I want a hug!" she demanded.

Kyle grinned and toddled over to hug his older sister happily and left her a little drool present.

"…Lovely." she sighed and stripped, throwing on a random assortment of clothes and went downstairs for the mail.

"Junk. Junk. Mum. Mum. Me. Mu-what?" she blinked. "Homg…I GOT MAIL!!!" she cheered and danced in the hallway. She ran past the living room, threw the other mail at her mum and dived onto her bed to read the mail - which caused the bed to tip to the side she'd landed on and the whole thing to come crashing down on top of her.

"…Mum? Mum! MUM! THE BED FELL ON ME AGAIN!"

A heavy sigh came from the living room and the newly awakened mother got up and made the long, arduous trek to her daughters room to save her.

After the bed was saved from Lara - no wait, I mean - After Lara was saved from the bed - yes that sounds about right now - her mum handed her a letter. "Give that to your sleeping cousin." she muttered.

Lara nodded and stretched grabbing her own letter and skipped off to Natalie's room skipping right throu- BANG! - no, sorry, INTO the door. "Ow…" she clutched at her nose and scrambled to open the door, in her excitement jumping onto Natalie's bed and yelling. "WE GOT MAIL!"

At that, Natalie sat blot upright and head butted Lara's nose. Lara yelped and fell sideways onto the floor, clutching the bloody nose. "NATALIE!" she squealed.

"Oh crap sorry Lara." she muttered sleepily.

Lara hissed, growled and threw the letter at her cousin, before collapsing on the floor and whimpering.

Natalie tore open the letter, not even glancing at the crest and started to read it, a confused look on her face. Lara left the room to wash away the blood from her nose checking it wasn't broken. After that she went through her own room to read her letter in peace and quiet.

Cairis held the letter about an inch from her face, glaring at the writing on the slim parchment. She couldn't identify the writing, but she had a sneaking suspicion her friends had set the whole thing up, as payback for making them all think she'd been drowned. This, of course, was entirely plausible. She sighed, re-reading the letter and eventually just throwing it to the side and rolling her eyes. "Hogwarts School…please! Lara couldn't have come up with that! It's too stupid! I mean, a pig with warts?" she shook her head and went off to have a shower before finding clean clothes, and going to confront her friends…

Lara and Natalie sat on the dry, half dead grass near the lake, away from the large slope they had played on the day before. They clutched their letters and were speaking in hushed voices. They didn't know how they would tell their friends they would not be at school that year, they would be elsewhere…

"Hey guys…" Vivi plonked herself down beside them, yelping when she sat on a patch of nettles. Rubbing her butt, she moved away and sat down again. "Got something to tell you..." She sounded strained, but that may have been her butt speaking.

"We have something to say as well…" Natalie admitted. "We got letters this morning…"

Vivi blinked. "Really? Me too!"

Lara pulled out her letter, with the crest.

Vivi gasped. "That's it! Lara that's the letter I got!" she squealed and glomped her two friends, delighted they wouldn't be separated.

"Wait…what about Cairis?" asked Natalie, frowning already. Lara frowned at Natalie's frowning. That girl was going to get some serious frown lines when she was older.

"What is this? Was this meant to be a prank to get me back for yesterday?" Cairis asked, popping up behind Lara, who yelped and face planted.

Vivi pulled her upright and pulled grass out her hair while asking, "What prank? What are you on about Kes?"

Cairis pulled out the letter. "This!" she threw it on the ground. "It's a really weird prank you lot."

"We Didn't pull a prank!" Natalie growled, pulling out her own letter and pointing at Lara's as well. "We all got letters, not one of them are fake."

Cairis sat down slowly narrowly avoiding the same patch of nettles Vivi had sat on earlier and stared at the ground. "So…then its real? Magic is real?"

"I never had a doubt." Lara grinned. "Mind you, it's all those fantasy books. Gotta love em…Gotta love em al! Fan-Ta-Sey!"

Vivi laughed at that, and it brought a small smile to the others faces.

"So, I guess this means we get to do magic."

"I guess this means we get to go shopping…"

"Not just shopping Lals…Shopping with Granny!"

All four cheered at the prospect of shopping with Granny Netta, the shopping addict who let you buy anything.


	2. Welcome to London

-1"Sleepovers RULE!" Vivi squealed, tossing her sleeping bag into Natalie's face. "Why don't we have 'em more often?"

"Well it won't really matter since we're all going to the same school." Sleeping bag-face grumbled. She tossed the sleeping bag to one side and yawned tiredly. "I suggest we get some sleep before discussing that."

"Aww but I'm not tired." Lara muttered darkly, before yawning herself. "Okay maybe I am…" she sighed and jumped onto her bed - and once more was buried under it as it flipped although this time there was four girls being devoured by the bed, covers, sheets and pillows rather than just one.

They pushed it back up and glared scathingly at their klutz of a friend. "Cousin Klutz!" Natalie growled.

"I get it!" Lara whimpered and crawled into bed, burrowing under the covers.

Cairis's face softened. "Sorry Lara…" She stood up and sat on the edge of the bed to give her friend a hug. Lara hugged her back happily grinning away.

Vivi shrugged and grabbed her sleeping bag, turning around with it and whacking Natalie's head. Natalie gave her back a dark look and crossed her arms huffily.

Vivi chose her spot on the floor and rolled out her sleeping bag and crawled inside it, snug as a bug and grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Night all!" she sang letting her head hit the pillow, and was out like a light.

In fact, Lara's mother came in at that moment and turned off the light. Handy that was.

Cairis was snuggled in the double bed beside Lara, counting little maniacal rabbits named Draven in her head, while Lara had fallen asleep already muttering something about sausages and gritting her teeth loudly. Vivi was nothing more than a snoozing lump of sleeping bag-ness while Natalie was soon snoring and muttering about spiders.

The next morning the four girls were jolted out of their blissful slumber when the front door was slammed shut behind someone.

Lara sat bolt upright and paled. "Its Granny Nettle! And we're not dressed! MOVE IT!"

The girls threw back their covers and sleeping bags diving for their clean clothes, trying to throw them on as fast as they could before Granny Nettle opened the door on them in their pyjamas.

Granny Nettle, however, bypassed the room without so much as a glance to the room, even with all the squeals and thumps coming from behind the door and continued onto the living room, where Lara's mother was watching the news.

"Mum!" she leapt to her feet and stared at her mother.

"Hiya hen." Granny Nettle smiled at her daughter and sat down on the couch sighing. "The girls aren't ready are they? I heard they all got letters…"

"They did…I was a bit shocked as well. They, on the other hand, are delighted. They thought they would have to be split. Not anymore though."

Nettle smiled her little secretive smile. "I always thought there was something different about those girls. Something you never had." The last few words were spoken gently, as if it were meant to be an apology.

"Whatever mum."

"You should be proud Junie. You've raised a good witch, and no doubt your son will be a wizard as well…though you might want to keep an eye on him." Nettle frowned at the havoc he could cause with a wand.

June got up and left the room, going to make a cup of tea for the two of them. As she left, four girls charged into the living room, and two of them, Natalie and Lara continued right on to hug their grandmother, yelling out "Granny!" delightedly.

Nettle laughed and hugged her granddaughters back. "Your crushing me!"

Lara and Natalie pulled away and stood beside their friends, all of them wearing clean if slightly rumpled clothes.

Nettle smiled and got to her feet, going over to them and staring down at each one intently. In her head, she was making a mental note of their clothes sizes and such, their styles of clothing as well.

"Who's ready to go shopping?" she smiled. "I hope you all have your lists with you."

"But Mrs Nettle, where are we gonna find a cauldron and stuff?" Vivi spoke up. "I mean there's not exactly a place to get them here is there?" She paused. "Wait is there?!" Nettle opened her mouth to reply but was cut off.

"You mean there's a shop that does all this here?" Cairis blinked. "Wow."

"No not here." Nettle shook her head. "In London."

"London?!" Natalie yelped. "London! How are we meant to get down there?!"

"By a portkey of course."

The four eleven year olds stared at her blankly.

"I'm sorry, a what?" Lara blinked. "What has pork got to do with it?"

"PORT Lara. PORT!" the grandmother sighed. "I'm getting too old for this." she murmured, running a hand through her greying hair. "Anyway, if the four of you will put on some shoes and a coat, meet me outside in a few moments." She looked at them for a moment. "Chop chop!"

Lara was the first to leave the room, going her for bedroom and raking for her shoes in her wardrobe. The other three found their trainers and coats pretty fast, but Lara was still running around looking for that one lace…

After the lace had been captured and tied back into place, the four friends made their way outside and into the small, mistreated garden. Nettle was sitting on the wall at the end of the small weed infested path. Gardening had never been their strong point, Lara noted with a frown.

"Granny Nettle, what's a portkey?!" Natalie had to yell out the question as the approached.

"I'll show you." Nettle said, pulling something out of her rather large bag.

Nettle was always one for having large bags to carry about things in, and Lara had grown to develop the very same habit.

What Nettle had pulled out was a rather large, rather old, and falling-to-piece phone book.

"Um…Mrs Nettle? That's a phonebook." Cairis raised an eyebrow.

"A really old minging one too Granny." Natalie rolled her eyes.

"Just touch it…Now!" Nettle snapped, glaring at them. Lara jumped and slammed a hand down on the book, fearful of her grandmother's wrath. Her cousin and friends followed likewise.

They stood there for several moments staring at the book and at each other. Then, just as Nettle was about to start talking, they were pulled forwards sharply, as if there was a hook around their waists, pulling them into the sky.

Lara shrieked and tried to pull away her hand, but it was as if it was stuck tight with glue. She looked at her friends and saw they were in a state of amazement. She glanced beyond them and saw the world was spinning around them.

The sight made her rather sick actually, so she closed her eyes.

Hence, when they landed, she was the first one to fall flat on her face. Vivi soon followed her, but Natalie and Cairis only just managed to stay upright along with Granny Nettle.

Lifting her head from the pavement, Lara looked around her and found they were in a darkened ally off a busy high street, and beyond that, amazingly, she could see the London Eye. "Oh. My. God."

"We're in London girls. Now lets go." Nettle stepped over her granddaughter and made her way out of the ally. Lara jumped to her feet, hauled Vivi to hers and dashed off after her friends and grandmother.

"So, I still don't see any shops where we can buy a friggin cauldron." Natalie said scathingly. Lara reached over and slapped the back of her head.

"Keep it down!" she hissed. "Can't go telling everyone! We'll get experimented on like freaks!"

"We're not freaks though." Natalie rubbed her head. "Well, Vivi might be an exception to that."

"Hey!" Vivi pouted at that, before tripping over Lara and knocking the two of them down.

After Nettle dragged them to their feet, she and the girls made their way along several streets before stopping outside a run down pup.

"Here we are girls!" She smiled cheerfully.

Lara glanced at her cousin. If they hadn't just been thrown through space to London she would have thought her grandmother was senile.

"Don't pull that face Lali." Nettle scowled at her and pushed open the door. "Welcome to the Leaky Cauldron girls."


	3. Diagon Ally

Lara had to be dragged into the dingy little pub, having spotted a bookshop across the road she desperately wanted to go to.

"But It has the new copy of Horrible Histories!" she wailed, as her grandmother dragged her back by the collar.

"You can get rarer books in here, you bloody bookworm." Nettle snapped, rather annoyed her eldest grandchild was more interested in books than magic.

The other three were trying the old 'I'm-so-not-with-them' look as they entered the bar and looked for a place to sit.

"Never mind sitting, we're going right through, out the back girls." Nettle pushed Lara ahead of her, the girls following her.

As they stepped out of the door, they found themselves in a dingy little space that looked like one of those old tenement gardens you got, i.e., none existent really, a small space of concrete and a few rubbish bags, with a rather large bricked up wall. Lara looked about herself doubtfully, managing to pry herself loose of her grandmother's grip.

"Granny, that's a wall…" Natalie commented dryly, watching Nettle root around in her bag.

"Now where did I put the blasted thing?" the old she-witch muttered, "Aha! Here we are!" She pulled out a thin wand, made of birch, approximately 12 inches long and containing one dragon heartstring, not that the younger ones knew this however. Nettle turned and tapped several bricks in a clockwise direction, as the four preteens stared curiously.

With a loud rumble Vivi was surprised people on the street didn't hear, the bricks split and moved out the way.

"Whoa…" Cairis stared where the wall was. "It's a…high street."

"For witches and wizards." Nettle said smugly.

"BOOKSHOP!" Lara literally screeched, making those nearest her flinch and cover their ears. Nettle was forced to watch helplessly as her eldest ran from the group and into Florish and Blotts.

"SWEETS!" This time it was Cairis's scream of delight as she ran down the street at full pelt.

"WAIT FOR ME!!" Vivi wailed, chasing after her.

Nettle sighed and looked down at Natalie, who was watching her friends run off. "Well, what about you?"

"I think I'll stick with you, I wanna get the guided tour!" She grinned.

Nettle smiled back at her. "At least one of my grandchildren is sane." She looked up at Florish and Blotts, where she could see Lara in her element. "Others, I'm not so sure about…"

Natalie smirked. "I have no doubts she's as sane as the other two."

"Boy is Hogwarts in trouble then."

"Wow…" Lara stared around at the books in the shop in wonder, lost in the titles and smell of dusty books.

She went over to one and pulled it out. It's title read _Mythical Beasts Revealed_. She turned it over and examined the price. "…gallons? Better ask Nettle." She slid the book back on the shelves and left the shop, crashing into Cairis and Vivi.

"Oi- Oh it's just you." They grinned at each other. "We couldn't get any sweets, they use some mental for of currency with knuts and sickles or something." Vivi shrugged.

"What, you mean like giant scythes used for cutting corn?" Lara looked at them confused.

"Er, no Lara."

The ditzy brunette turned around to spot Nettle frowning at her. "These are sickles, gallons and knuts." She held out her hand, and in its palm was a small bronze coloured coin, shaped like a hexagon with a hole through the middle, a silver round coin, slightly larger than the bronze one, and a large gold coin.

"The gold one is a gallon, the silver one a sickle and the bronze one is a knut." Natalie explained. "Granny Nettle already told me."

"Smug little witch aren't you?" Lara frowned.

"So what if I am?" Natalie was ready for an argument.

"Girls, that's quite enough of that, thank you!" Nettle growled at the two. "Now, we are here to buy you school materials. First stop is Olivander's for wands, since Natalie and I have already been to the bank while you three were drooling over books and sweets." You could just tell Nettle didn't approve of such pastimes…

"I can't wait to get a wand!" Vivi squealed, grabbing onto Cairis and Lara.

"Me either!" Lara grinned. "Can we go now?"

Nettle was already pushing them down the street. "Lets get a move on girls, we haven't got all day."

As they entered the shop, the girls saw the walls were like giant bookcases, only instead of holding books, they held countless boxes. Black boxes, white boxes, long boxes, boxes with an odd little stamp on then, boxes with drawing of unicorns, dragons and phoenixes.

"Wow…They won't fall on us, will they?"

"No Lara, they will not fall." Nettle smiled. "Ollivander!" She called suddenly. "Mr. Ollivander?!"

"Ah, Mrs McClung I presume?" An old voice came from beyond the walls of boxes. He stepped out from the boxes and smiled over at them.

"Mr. Ollivander, it's wonderful to see you again." Nettle smiled as Ollivander showed himself. She looked at the four witched-to-be behind her.

"Wow he's old." Natalie muttered. Lara rolled her eyes. "What?"

"Four new witches looking for wands I see." He beckoned to Vivi. "You can be first."


	4. Ollivanders

The wand maker stood beside Vivi and asked her to hold out her wand hand.

"Wand hand?" she frowned."

"Writing hand," Nettle coughed.

"Oh…" she held out her right hand and watched as the old guy pulled out a tape measure and muttered away to himself as he watched it float about and measure Vivi, before moving away and jotting something down.

Ollivander pulled down a box from just above his head. "Here, dragon heart string, eight inches, good for transfiguration. Willow."

Vivi took the wand and examined it. She looked up at Ollivander. "What do I do with it?"

Ollivander blinked. The question was asked to him every time he gave someone a wand for the first time, and it was getting old. "Give it a wave."

Vivi turned around and pointed at Natalie. "Hocus pocus!" she cried. Nothing happened.

"I said a wave, not some gibberish!"

"Oh…" Vivi frowned as she thought about how to wave the wand. Left? or right? Should it be in a circle, or a squ-

"WAVE THE DAMN WAND!"

Vivi was startled out of her thoughts by Lara's impatient slash excited shouting.

"Alright already!" Vivi waved it and watched as a box shot off the shelve and hit Lara square on the nose, gaining a yelp from the bookworm.

Vivi grinned and turned away from them, as Lara nursed her red nose. "I'll take this one please!"

"Actually, that means it didn't work, so I must let you try another one."

Vivi pouted and looked up at Ollivander with big eyes, clutching the wand to her chest. "Pwease?"

"No." he gently took the wand from her and put it back in the box, replacing it on the shelve before crossing the room for another one.

He pulled it out and glanced at Vivi. "Veela hair, maple, twelve and a half inches, good for Charms."

He handed it to her and watched as she suddenly became rather…windswept.

Vivi flattened her hair, muttering angrily. "I don't want this one!" she said, holding it out.

"I'm afraid the wand wants you though. That will be your wand." Ollivander smiled at her. "Now, give it here and I'll wrap it."

Vivi seethingly gave him the wand and silently moved back to the group.

Lara stepped up. "I wanna go next!" she said, sounding a bit stuffy nosed. Wonder why?

"Very well. Hold out your wand hand." Ollivander order, picking up the tape measure and let it start measuring. While Ollivander jotted things down, Lara prodded the floating tape measure and it flew off to settle on the desk.

Ollivander reappeared, giving the girl a wand. "Yew, nine inches, phoenix feather. Try it out."

Lara spun and flicked the wand at Vivi and flinched as a few boxes to the right of Vivi flew at her. Ducking down in time, she gingerly handed back the wand. "Sorry."

"No worries!" Cairis piped up. Vivi shot her a look, then smiled a little, cheering up.

Lara took the next wand, looking at it closely. "It's got a little knobbly bit sticking out the side." she said, poking it.

"Willow, ten inches. Phoenix feather." Ollivander stepped back quickly. he didn't want to be hit by flying boxes, thank you very much.

Lara gave it a wave and watched sparks shoot out the end, yellow and black ones. She smiled. "Does that mean I got it right?"

Ollivander nodded. "Yes, you did." He removed the wand from her and set it down on the desk. "Who's next?"

Nettle went to push Natalie forwards, but Cairis stepped up first. "Me."

"No, I want to go first!" Natalie pushed past Cairis roughly and went to Ollivander. "What's my wand going to be?" she demanded.

Ollivander frowned. This one was going to be hard to cater for…

He reached and pulled out a wand gingerly. "Yew, twelve and a half inches. Unicorn hair." He handed it over carefully.

Natalie took it and waved it at the floor and watched the trail of silver and green sparkles fly from it.

"First time lucky." Natalie smirked and gave Ollivander the wand to wrap for her, before going back to the others.

Lara tapped Cairis on the shoulder. "Your turn mate." she smiled.

Cairis nodded and stepped up slowly.

Ollivander got out a wand once his tape measure was finished with measurements and handed it to Cairis. "Ash, good for trandfiguration. Dragon heart string, twelve and a half inches."

Cairis took it, and once more sparks shot out its end. "That was lucky." she commented, grinning.

"No, the wand chooses the wizard, or in this case, witch. Remember that girls." Ollivander smiled and beckoned to Nettle, who stepped forwards, opening her bag.

"How much is that?" she smiled at him.

"That would be….forty-six gallons, sixteen sickles and eleven knuts." Ollivander smiled as Nettle handed over the money and put the packaged wands in her bag.

At the look of amazement on the girls faces, she simply explained, "It's bigger on the inside."

The girls shrugged the comment off and left the store, waving to Ollivander…well, three of them did. Natalie did not.

"What shop now girls?" Nettle asked.

"Florish and Blotts!" Lara yelped excitedly.

"To the bookstore!"


End file.
